UN team arrives for more talks on Venezuela border controversy

Nov 20, 2015 News

A special United Nations (UN) team that is working to help discuss options of resolutions into the Venezuela border controversy was set to return last evening for a second round of talks with Government.

UN’s Mission head, Susanna Malcorra

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday, the UN Mission which was again dispatched by Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, is headed by his Chef de Cabinet, Susanna Malcorra; and includes Yvette Blanco, David Hutchinson and Guillermo Kendall.
They are scheduled to depart tomorrow.
The visit is to discuss “options under the Geneva Agreement for a resolution of the contention of Venezuela that the 1899 Arbitral Award is null and void,” the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
While here, the team is expected to pay a courtesy call on President David Granger.
They will also meet with Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge, and other officials, for detailed discussions beginning today.
The visit is part of the ongoing effort of the UN’s Secretary General to assist Guyana and Venezuela in the search for a solution to the controversy that arose from the Venezuelan contention that the Arbitral Award of 1899, that established the land boundary between the two States, is null and void.
In May, following the announcement that oil has been discovered in Guyana’s waters, the border issue which has been simmering for decades now, took centre stage again, becoming a major concern for the newly sworn-in Granger administration.
This was because Venezuela immediately issued decrees not only reclaiming Essequibo, but also the water in which oil had been found by ExxonMobil.
Venezuela reportedly sent out its patrol boats and suspended its oil-for-rice deal with Guyana, turning

Foreign Affairs Minister, Carl Greenidge

instead to neighbouring Suriname for its supplies of paddy.
With souring relations and Venezuela recalling its ambassador, the two countries’ leaders met at the UN Headquarters in New York during a key summit and agreed to Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s intervention.
Guyana is insisting that the matter should be taken to the International Court for a settlement once and for all.